The present invention relates to a vehicle seat storage assisting apparatus for rotating clockwise and counterclockwise a seat back and a seat cushion in a state that the seat back is folded on the seat cushion, and more particularly to a vehicle seat storage assisting apparatus which can reduce an operation force required to rotate a vehicle seat constituted by the seat back and the seat cushion.
In vehicle seats, as shown in, for example, JP-A-10-119613, there is known a vehicle seat which is provided in a rearmost row and is constructed so as to be rotated forward and backward while a seat back being folded on a seat cushion.
The folded seat is constructed so as to be stored in a seat storing portion formed in a rear floor panel in a horizontal state. Accordingly, when there is much luggage, the seat can be rotated backward in a folded state to be stored in the storing portion in the floor panel, whereas when there are many passengers instead of the much luggage, the seat so stored in the storing portion can be rotated forward to provide additional seating space for the passengers.
In the aforesaid related art, since the seat in the rearmost row can be unfolded to provide seating space and folded to be stored depending on the number of passengers and amount of luggage, the seat is superior in utility. On the other hand, a certain magnitude of force is required to implement the rotating operation, because the weights of both the seat back and the seat cushion have to be taken care of when rotating the seat.
While such a rotating operation of the seat can be attempted to be implemented using a driving apparatus, adding such a driving apparatus to a vehicle leads to a problem that the vehicle weight is increased, which increases, in turn, the fuel consumption of the vehicle, finally leading to an increase in running costs thereof.